Black Devil Ashikabi
by Takedown Paladin
Summary: After the destruction of Raven rock Enclave Sergeant Joshua Blackburn was on the way to a supply cache he had stashed at a power station when he discovered a crashed UFO. Find out what happens when Enclave Spec. Ops. "Black Devil" is thrown into a world that never suffered a nuclear war, and a game filled with strange alien women looking for something called "Ashikabi." bad summary
1. Prologue: Departure

Hello and welcome to my story. This is my first one so I keep that in mind if it seems like it's missing something or if it's kinda lacking in quality in other areas, it will get better as we go on. I have taken some creative liberties with some of the tech and the power armor mentioned in the story is done in the style of Fallout 4. I would like to thank Spirited Gorilla for being my Beta monkey.  
Without further delay I present to you Black Devil Ashikabi.

DISCLAIMER :I do not own anything but my OC.

"Words"  
 _'Thoughts'_  
 _"Talking in another language"_  
[ Talking over radio/phone ]  
-

Sergeant Joshua Blackburn was not having a good day. He was on his way back to Raven Rock from leaving some supplies in the nearby settlements. He knew that if the Enclave wanted to begin rebuilding the Capital Wasteland they would have to win the hearts and minds of the locals.  
He had tried to bring this up to his superiors but that had gone poorly. The brass had decided that the locals were not worth the effort and that it would be easier to just wipe them out and then slowly expand. He had pointed out that not only would it take far too long for that to work but the sheer amount of resources would be best spent elsewhere.  
They had reacted like anyone used to having their orders followed and asses kissed would, they sent him on "Deep reconnaissance." I.e. they sent him, alone, to explore the wastes. He was glad that he had taken the time to win the local wastelanders' trust so he could have detailed knowledge of the local terrain and hazards. He did not wish to die like Pvt. Jenkins did when he found and pissed off a small pack of Deathclaws.  
He had only survived due to the fact he had thrown a mini nuke at them as they mauled Jenkins and then shot it with his laser rifle. He didn't bother to try to salvage any of Jenkins' kit.

He sighed, he had planned on trying to find the Lone Wanderer and warn him about the upcoming plans the Enclave had for him. He was not doing it out of the kindness of his heart, the Wanderer was second only to the local Brotherhood chapter in public trust and loyalty. If he had managed to gain his trust then it would be much easier for him to do his job. But no, the brass decided to kidnap him, take him to their secret base and then try to convince him to sabotage the purifier. The Wanderer's response to that had been to wipe the base from the face of existence. He was glad that he had his X-01 power armor with its air conditioning along with the protection to the wastes. He was also happy to have his laser rifle and two sidearms. His rifle was a modified AER09 with a scope along with an advanced recycler so he could actually last out in the wastes. The recycler was a work of his own, it recycled the cells much more efficiently. Meaning as long as he didn't lose the cells they would fully recharge given sufficient time. His sidearms were a modified plasma defender with scope and adv. recycler and a family heirloom 12.7mm handcannon his father had affectionately called "Li'l Devil."

The bases lack of continued existence left him without any supplies besides what he had on him and in the supply caches he had dotting the nearby landscape. He was currently on his way to the cache that he had left at MDPL-13 Power station. It was there he noticed the bent power lines.

'Odd, wonder what could have caused that.' He toggled the magnetic strip he had on the back of his armor to drop his laser rifle into his waiting hands. He flicked the safety and brought his rifle into a ready position and started north towards the bent power lines. His head on a constant slow swivel to scan for hostile contacts, he had to be cautious due to the approaching dusk giving potential threats plenty of considering it was still too bright for Night Vision.  
Once he was at the tower he looked around and noticed that his radio had detected a signal nearby, it was coming in from north of his current position. He slowly approached the source of the signal and was meet by the strangest sight, a crashed UFO. It had carved a small trench into the earth starting with a shack that seemed to have offended it. Even better was the dead little yellowish-green alien, right in front of it.  
He checked his suits HUD, 'No rads so I'm not losing it, and I'm not dehydrated.' He thought to himself. Giving a mental shrug he walked closer to investigate and noticed once he was 20ft away that his suit's geiger counter started ticking. He looked around until he spotted a hole in the hull that was leaking fluids. 'That must be the source of it.' His armor could deal with the current level of rads, any higher though and he would have to pull back.

He walked up to the dead alien and crouched down to get a better look.  
Using a stick he moved the body around, noting how light it was. He figured that the alien had died on impact, but just to be sure he pulled his combat knife out of its boot sheathe and rammed it into the base of the skull and where he guessed the heart to be, just to be sure. The Wasteland had taught him to always assume that the unknown would likely to try to kill him.

It was then when his armor's enhanced hearing detected the sounds of small group walking in power armor. It sounded like they were 40ft away, approaching from the south.  
'Not Enclave, any survivors from Raven Rock wouldn't head this way. Raiders don't have power armor. Brotherhood? That seemed more likely, but they're based in the city. They don't have the manpower to patrol this far.'  
While he was deep in thought he took cover in the ruins of the shack, trusting the black paint of his armor to help conceal him. Few seconds later the contacts crested the hill. Their armor painted black and red with the Brotherhood insignia displayed proudly.  
'Outcasts.' He thought with disgust. He had spotted them a few times he had gone close to the city and later found out the split in the Brotherhood due to Elder Lyons having a change of heart about the people in the wastes. He took particular joy from killing them and taking their rifles and ammo for his supply caches. Just as much as for pissing them off as it was for being pragmatic.  
He left the dog tags, but he took the time to inscribe a small devil's head into the back just so they knew it was him in a roundabout way killing their squads. The same symbol that was on his armor, opposite the Enclave E. He counted five Outcasts, a fireteam. Two of them had heavy weapons, a missile launcher and a minigun, he would neutralize them first. The last three had laser rifles. He noted the small helix on the rifleman in the back.  
'Must be the medic.' He thought to himself. He would die after the heavies. "Would you get a look at this, must have some nice tech. There's extra rations for us when we salvage this." Said the pointman, loudly, to the rest of the fireteam.  
'Their radios must be busted, or their just complete morons. not surprising either way.' Blackburn thought to himself. The Outcasts came to stand at the ridge oh so helpfully, like target dummies at the range. He lined his sights on a exposed missile's warhead, setting his rifle to full power as he did so. Once again happy that he had added that handy little function. He then slowly exhaled and squeezed the trigger, mentally noting to add another notch to his rifle.

The result was an explosion that instantly killed the person the rocket was hitching a ride with and set off the other two rockets in the cloth pouch it was resting in. A piece of shrapnel, from the armor or missile it was not clear which, took one of the riflemen in the neck severing the jugular. He shifted his sights onto the medic that was trying to save him and shot him in the groin, going for the femoral artery. The screams of pain and agony from both medic combined with the explosive death of their comrade rattled the last two standing. They quickly shook of their surprise and returned fire with a vengeance.  
"You motherfucker!" screamed the minigun heavy as he spun up and fired on Blackburn's position. "Keep him pinned, Rick. I'll go left," commanded the rifleman. "On it, James," Rick replied. James flanked left, towards the west, using the covering fire to his advantage as he did so. Blackburn dived behind the shack moving towards the east side of the trench, using the rocks as he did so.  
"Come back here you bastard!" Roared the Rick, as he too moved towards the east in an effort to keep Blackburn in his sights. Blackburn who himself had seen the rifleman moving to flank him, lied in wait for him, safe from the heavy behind his rock. He reloaded and set his rifle back to medium power while waited a few seconds keeping an ear on the heavy who stomped towards his position.  
'Right about… now.' Blackburn thought to himself as the rifleman came into view from around the ruins of the shack. They both fired instantly at each other, the Outcast's shot deflecting off his right shoulder while Blackburn's took him in the face. The Outcast dropping like a puppet with its strings cut.  
"JAMES!" The heavy yelled out in shock. Blackburn moved towards the downed rifleman tossing James' rifle in the way he had tried to flank Blackburn. Quickly taking one of the three frag grenades off James' belt and readying it for the heavy. He pulled the pin and threw it just beyond the corner.  
"Shit!" The heavy tried to back up but it was too late and was blasted off of his feet by the force of the explosion, shrapnel peppering him. It was while he was reeling that Blackburn advanced. It was while Rick was attempting to pick himself back up that his attempt was stopped with a boot slamming viciously into his helmet making his ears ring and putting him back down. Blackburn then viciously rammed his rifle's stock into Rick's windpipe, crushing it. Rick died choking curses at Blackburn, finally realising who had been killing his brothers not only in his squad but all of the Outcasts.

Blackburn then checked on the other two Outcasts that had been wounded in the beginning of the firefight. The rifleman had died shortly after the shrapnel had put a second place to breathe in his neck. The medic had passed out due to trauma and shock of the wound, the laser having cauterized the wound. Blackburn relieved him of his medical bag and then pulled out his boot knife and put the medic out of Blackburn's misery. The Rocket Heavy's body was reminiscent of a can that had exploded. Blackburn dryly noted that he had set a new personal best with how far some of the Heavy's body had gone. He went back to UFO, locking his rifle to his back while he did so, to see if it had been damaged in the fight. The only signs of a fight having occurred near it was the fresh blood and bits and pieces of the Rocket Heavy. It was then he heard a small thud. He spun around to see James standing there. Blackburn quickly looked down and noticed that there was a grenade at his feet. It was in that moment that he remembered what Drill Sergeant Dornan's once said.

"Once the pin has been pulled Ambassador Pineapple is not your friend."Following such a wonderful saying, he had then started throwing dummy grenades at the recruits, who were completely unaware of the whole "dummy" part of the exercise. He dived to the side, drawing Li'l Devil as he did so. The grenade detonated throwing Blackburn even further. He quickly drew a bead on James' head and pulled the trigger. The 12.7mm armor piercing round flew at 1400 feet per second and ventilated James' brain. Killing him instantly. Berating himself for not checking on him earlier Blackburn checked his HUD, happily noting that the armor's integrity was uncompromised. Due to the Ambassador Pineapple's explosive words Blackburn did not hear the whine that was coming from the UFO. It was only after the implosion and a wormhole being generated that he noticed something had gone wrong with the UFO. Right as he was being sucked into the wormhole he uttered his last words in The Capital Wasteland.

"Well, shit."


	2. Chapter 1: Arrival

**Hello and welcome to chapter one of Black Devil Ashikabi. I plan on updating this story whenever I'm happy with the chapter and I have free time available. I will show more of Blackburn's past via flashbacks and comments he makes. His gear will be explored in greater detail this chapter along with meeting an interesting individual. Now I will be changing some things in the Sekirei universe, not all of which shall be immediately shown. I'll also be going back soon to edit the prologue fixing the whole lack of spacing issue. I also fully intend to finish this story. Only horrific injury or worse will stop me. It may take me some time but I will finish it with a ending I hope you all will enjoy. But don't worry that won't be anytime soon. This is gonna be a nice long read. I will probably be making the chapters longer as we go on.**

 **DISCLAIMER :I do not own anything but my OC.**

" Words "  
 _' Thoughts '_  
 _" Talking in another language "_  
[ Talking over radio/phone ]  
 _[ talking over the radio/phone in another language.]_  
{ Suit OS }* Picture the suit's voice in Crysis 3.  
 **-**

Shinto Teito 2019. (One year before Sekirei plan begins.)

Karasuba had been feeling restless for days. She had spent all her free time in the gym constantly exercising in an attempt to get rid of the feeling. It had started a week ago, a slight urge to do something. It was easy to ignore at first, she had figured it would disappear soon. Instead, what happened was it got stronger. The next day it had hit her, hard. She had to exert a considerable amount of her will to ignore it. She continued to ignore the feeling by polishing and oiling her sword. The next day she would have spent the whole day doing just that if Yume, who had noticed something was bothering her, hadn't suggested they spar. It had ended with another loss for Karasuba. She had performed worse than usual.

Which had the wonderful effect of making her mood even worse. She would glare at anyone that got to close. Those that knew of the Black Sekirei's temper and how she liked to inflict her misery on other people stayed away. Those that didn't, well, they learned their lesson. The next day the urge had changed from a general restlessness to an overwhelming urge to go north. She had originally thought it was Miya's doing but it wasn't. The urge took her to a general area 3kms north of that damnable inn. The area had started off as a circle with a radius of 1km. She had spent that day exploring the area. Killing anyone that decided to ignore their instincts screaming at them to leave her alone. The next day it had shrunk to a radius of 500m. She had spent that day going over the area to a greater extent. The people of that area had seen what she had done to some yakuza that had hit on her. As far as she was aware the corpse was still impaled on the street light.

It was night of the next day when the feeling changed into a stabbing pain in her head. The urge then changed into a need to head into a dark alley. She had originally gone there to flay the cause alive and then salt the exposed meat but the sight she was greeted with stunned even her, so much so that she had dropped the bag of salt she had brought just for that purpose. What she saw was a hole in reality that was a mix of many colors. But what came out of the hole surprised her even more when it violently vomited a black blur that decided that the wall at the end of the alley was a great place to stop flying. The figure then ricocheted off the wall and landed onto its back, staring at the night sky. The figure was the origin of the urge and that urge was telling her to go to it NOW. The hole then disappeared, apparently deciding that its cargo was launched at sufficient speed to make it aware it did not like being a taxi service. She then heard a computerized voice coming from what she guessed was a helmet.

{Warning: proximity alarm; unknown contact in immediate vicinity.}  
{Warning: Significant blunt force trauma detected, seek immediate medical attention.}*

Moving quickly she went next to the prone figure. It was wearing what she guessed could only be some form of powered armor. She could hear a gentle hum coming from it. It was painted black, to better blend into dark places and the night she guessed. The helmet had two orange lenses and multiple cables running into the back of the armor. There was an air filter, like those found on gas masks, on the left side. The mouth resembled a flat beak for a mouth. There was also a small port located on the neck.

Wrapping around the shoulders, like a shawl, was a massive 3'in thick plate. Located on the right bicep was sergeant chevrons. On the chest were two different insignias, a faded capital E surrounded by 12 stars. Opposite was a skull with two horns coming from the forehead that looked like it was lovingly etched on with a blade; a knife she would guess. Probably the same one located in the sheathe on the right calf. The gauntlets drew her eyes due to the studs on the knuckles. Her trained eye also noted that it was in combat recently, judging from the scorch marks and scratches on the armor. It had been repaired multiple times from what she could tell due to small indentions on the torso and shoulders. She guessed they were from small arms fire.

It was then she noticed the weapons one pinned beneath him, one on his hip and another clenched in his right fist with the safety off. Noting that a finger was resting on the trigger guard.  
She also noticed a small brown bag with a caduceus that was hooked onto the right thigh.

Remembering the voice that came from the helmet, which she guessed was the suit itself, whoever was inside was injured. She started looking for a way to take the helmet off. She then heard the same voice from earlier speak again.

{Alert; suit tampering detected. Initializing countermeasures.}

She didn't like the sound of that. She didn't have to wait long to find out what exactly those countermeasures were. She heard the hum change into a sound that was reminiscent of a defibrillator about to discharge. She quickly took her hands of the suit. That was when curiosity got the better of her.

 _'I wonder how lethal that is...'_

It was in that exact moment a drunk wandered by the start of the alley, almost as though the universe itself was curious too. She quickly and silently grabbed the drunk, clamping a hand over his mouth as she did so. She brought him back to the suit and shoved him towards it.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

She quickly smelled cooking flesh and watched, amused, as he slumped forward and made even more contact with the suit, dead. She also noted that she could see smoke coming from the fresh corpse.

 _'Somebody wants to keep their toy theirs. I wonder what anti-theft the guns have...'_

She dismissed it for later thought and quickly grabbed a syringe that was different from the others located in the med pack. She then jammed the needle into the port, figuring that was what the port was for, and pushed the plunger down. The effect was instantaneous.

{Super stimpack administered.}

She jumped back to 10ft away when the figure, servos snarling, shot up into a sitting position, screaming at the top of its lungs.

"I'M AWAKE NOW, SERGEANT DORNAN!"

She was even further surprised when the figure not only spoke english but also saluted the moment it started to sit up. She wanted to meet this "Sergeant Dornan." She watched as his, for it was certainly a he, head swiveled around to meet her.

"Who the hell are you and why the hell would you wake someone up like that!?"

What happened next was something that many people had learned to fear greatly in their interactions with the Black Sekirei. She laughed, hard.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"  
-

Blackburn was not having a good day. He was almost blown up, sucked into a portal that decided to see if he could fly with all the grace of a dodo bird. He was then woken up by somebody deciding that waking someone up like Sergeant Dornan had done many times during "surprise" inspections. In the middle of the night. After PT'ing them into the ground. How he loathed those times, what scared him was the fact that some of the recruits started to actually enjoy waking up via stims. The hell that followed when Sgt. Dornan found out what happened to a good amount of the stims still haunted his darkest nightmares to this day.

Trip down memory lane complete he then noticed not only the strange attire of the woman in front of him, who was smoking hot he had to admit, he also noted that she had a sword strapped to her hip. He found that odd but so did the state of the buildings. They were not in a state of shelled out rubble. No bullet holes, energy burns, mini nuke and missile craters. In fact they looked new. They weren't made out of salvage. Even the Enclave buildings had some signs of the fact they were made of salvage.

"Where the hell am I?"

He had muttered out loud due to the combined effects of the super stim, none-to-gentle jaunt through reality, and the hug he had given' the wall... With his face.

"Shinto Teito, Japan." the woman replied.

Silence greeted this announcement for a few moments. Blackburn asked another question, with no small amount of trepidation.

"What year?"

"2019." Replied the same woman who had a sick sense of humor.

It was then that Blackburn noticed the smell of cooked flesh and looked down.

"Why is there a dead man cooked to my armor?"

"Your suit tried to shock me, I wondered if it was lethal." She replied with a lazy grin.

It was in that moment, Blackburn realized that she had been messing with him while he was unconscious. He unwaveringly aimed Li'l Devil at her.

"What did you do?" His voice low with the promise of impending violence if he didn't like the answer.

His question was met with lazy grin and hooded eyes of someone who was not in the slightest worried about their current situation.

"I was here when you flew out of that portal and did a bug-meets-windshield impression on that wall over there."

She then pointed at the wall with a very "Blackburn in power armor" sized indentation.

"Now do I get to see who's underneath that helmet?"

He thought about it for some time. On one hand exposing his head did not seem very wise. Sgt. Dornan had taught them that via junk jet and teddy bears. No time was sacred, he would pop them in their sleep, in the showers, on the toilet, filing paper work. He wondered where Sgt. Dornan even found or, he shuddered at the implications, made one.

 _' For someone in power armor all the time and who's "inside voice" could give base sirens a run for their money he's a sneaky bastard.'_

"I will, if you promise not to try anything funny and you answer my questions." He finally said, the helmet making it sound like he was growling it.

"Alright, I'll answer your questions if you answer mine."

He thought it over for a moment. Deciding that was fair.

"Deal." He uttered, reaching for his helmet's release with his free hand. Li'l Devil still aimed at Karasuba's heart.

The sight that greeted Karasuba's eyes was a shining bald head. She had to resist the urge to laugh at the sight. The only reason why she did was due to the fact this man was her Ashikabi, it would make it rather hard for her to wing herself if she got off on the wrong foot. He was caucasian with a black beard and sunken steel grey eyes much like her own. His face was also heavily scarred. The largest being three long claw marks going diagonally across. One starting at the far corner of his left eye, ending at the right corner of his mouth. The longest one starting at the left corner of his forehead and ending below his right eye. The final of scar of the trio started above the right eyebrow and ended at the corner of his jaw. Smaller scars littered his face. She idly wondered if he used shoe polish to make his head shine like that though.

"Not a damn word." His voice a deep baritone, knowing what she was thinking. He did note she didn't laugh, although he saw that she wanted to.

"Never would dream of it." She lied through her teeth.

"Riiiight." He replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.  
"So what's your name?" He asked.  
"Karasuba, yours?" She replied watching him like a hawk does a fat mouse.

"Blackburn." He replied curtly.

By this time the stim, in all its wonderful adrenaline fueled glory, wore off. He slumped over but instantly righted himself. Karasuba, having noticed this took a step forward but halted when he shot between her feet. With empty hands held up, showing that she did not plan on harming him she continued to approach him. Blackburn, crashing hard, decided that if she wanted to harm him she already would have done so. She stopped 4ft away from him.

"I need somewhere to recover. Do you know a place where we can lay low?" He asked, flicking the safety on Li'l Devil back on and stood up shoving the corpse aside as he did so. Holstering Li'l Devil, he then hooked his helmet to his left hip. Karasuba noted that he stood a full foot taller than her inside that armor of his.

She nodded saying, "I'll call a ride for us."

Reaching into her pocket as she withdrew her cell phone pulling up Takami's number in her contacts and hit "call."

"What is that?" said Blackburn looking at the phone in her hand.

"Do they have phones where you're from?" she asked slightly interested in this little tidbit of information as she brought the phone to her ear.

"They did, but not small and portable like that." He replied slowly, from what he has seen so far he has a few ideas what happened to him. Not liking the possible results and coming down from the stims he decided he would think about it when he was able too.

She nodded, noting the "did" part of his answer. She was about to reply when Takami answered her call.

 _["What do you need, Karasuba?"]_

 _["I need a van sent to my current position. I finally found what was bugging me."]_

 _["Oh yeah? What was it?"]_ Takami was curious now. She had noticed something was bugging Karasuba when she started going to the same area in town over the past couple of days. She turned towards a nearby guard.

 _"Send a van to this address."_ She said, the guard nodded and moved to carry out what she told him quickly. He had seen what she could do with just a clipboard.

 _[" I found my Ashikabi."]_ Karasuba replied with a casual tone, a lazy grin on her face.

 _[YOU WHAT?!]_ Takami exclaimed into the phone causing Karasuba to flinch away from her phone and Blackburn, who did not understand a single word of Japanese, to raise an eyebrow.

 _["Jeez, don't be so loud. No need to shout. So, about that van?"]_

 _["It's… on it's way."]_ Takami replied in a flat tone, still shocked at what she was just told.

 _[" Good, you'll want to see what he has on him, he's also injured so he'll need a check up. He has significant blunt force trauma. He's only awake because of adrenaline right now."]_ She said with a serious expression on her face, glancing at him for a second to see he was starting to nod off. She wondered how he didn't fall over.

"The knees can lock so we can sleep standing if need be." He said noticing her questioning look.  
"When will our ride get here?

 _[" Understood, it'll be there in five."]_ Takami replied getting over her shock. She started heading towards the garage level of MBI's headquarters, in order to meet them when they arrived. She decided that she would grab Yume on the way down.

Karasuba ended the call and replied to Blackburn's question.  
"Our ride will be here within five minutes, handy feature of that armor. Anything else it can do?"  
She knew that the chances of getting a straight answer were very low, even with the armor she could read his body language. It spoke of caution and someone ready to unleash violence at a moment's notice with extreme prejudice.

"It is, and air conditioning." He replied, an exhausted tone creeping into his voice. He knew he was probably going to fall asleep in whatever was coming to pick them up. He wasn't worried about Karasuba killing him, unless he misread her, she wanted him alive just as much as he did. The strangest thing though was his instincts, which had a razor edge just due to the sheer amount of things that wanted to kill him, were quiet. Normally in theses kinds of situations they would telling him to keep his hand on his defender's grip, especially when that person is a trained killer. In fact what they were telling him was he could trust his back to her during a fight.

That alone made him uneasy. He resolved to at least keep her in his line of sight at all times.  
The only people he had completely trusted to watch his back were his fellow Enclave. But even they threw him to the wastes when he questioned their means about achieving their ultimate goal of rebuilding the U.S. Granted insulting them by saying that even a super mutant could fight better than the Enclave personnel at Raven Rock probably hadn't won him any sympathizers or friends. Especially considering he had done all of that in less than 24 hours of being there. Colonel Autumn had taken particular offense to all of what he had said. He had said he would teach Blackburn a lesson in the training hall by trying to spar with him. He had lasted less than a minute. The next day, after Autumn had woken up, his special skills where needed in patrolling the wastes. By himself, with minimal resupply, monthly reports, mandatory radio silence, and absolutely no chance of support or rescue if shit hit the fan. There was a reason why he wasn't upset about seeing the place obliterated.

Waiting for the van to arrive they walked to the beginning of the alley up to the street. His armors hydraulics and servos making it sound like a trash compactor was in the alley. It was then that Blackburn noticed something odd about a certain street light nearby.

"Is that a corpse impaled on that light?" he asked in a light, conversational tone.

"Yes it is, do you like my work?" Karasuba replied with a grin.

"Eh, there's a lack of metal rods shoved through it, also the fact he still has his skin. Better than how most do it. Not the greatest I've seen though. Hell, I've done better." He replied in a off handed way, one hand on his chin as though in deep thought.

"Oh yeah, do share." She replied her interest piqued. She had struck gold with this Ashikabi of hers if he is telling the truth.

"Maybe another time, gotta keep people interested. I have to ask though, how did you get him all the way up there? I'm not seeing a harpoon or anything that would get him stuck up there sticking out of him."

"I'll tell when you do." She quipped back.

They then spent the time in companionable silence. For Karasuba at least, Blackburn was trying not to fall asleep and also noting places he could take cover. He stood in the alley while Karasuba stood on the sidewalk, so the van knew which alley to go to. Less than a minute later a black van with MBI in white stenciled on the side arrived and pulled up alongside Karasuba. Blackburn noted that it was spacious enough for him to sit in the back and still have enough space for somebody else to comfortably sit.

He unhooked his helmet on his side and donned it once again. While he did enjoy the crisp fresh air of this place, he prefered the filtered air of his helmet with its air scrubbers. He got into the back of the van. Karasuba noticed the whole van dip when he got in. She got into the back and sat across from Blackburn.

"How long will it take for us to get to where we're going?" He asked, his voice distorted again from the helmet, as he looked at Karasuba. The driver jumped in his seat hearing the voice. Karasuba, seeing this, just smirked and replied, "30 minutes roughly. Depends on the jumpy driver there."

"Alright, wake me when we get there." He said as he closed his eyes and leaned back as far as he could in the seat. Before he drifted off into sleep he set his suit's anti-theft systems to low power. He also set it to protect only his weapons, he had spent far too long finding some of those damn parts for them for some jackass to steal them. Having done that he finally allowed himself to drift off into sleep.

Karasuba spent the entire ride back to Teito Tower looking at Blackburn. She had noticed when the weapons seemed to have a small hum coming from them shortly before he fell asleep. She decided that would provide some quality entertainment, for she knew that someone was going to try to take them.

 _' Oh this is gonna be good.'_ She thought to herself. They soon arrived at MBI Tower and drove into the garage. She opened the door and hopped out. She wasn't surprised to see both Yume and Takami waiting along with a squad of guards.

 _"Where is he?"_ said Takami, curious to see who could possibly be Karasuba's Ashikabi just as much as she was to treat his injuries.

 _"In the back, hard to miss. He's sleeping right now."_ replied Karasuba in a cheeky fashion.

 _"I'm so happy for you! You finally found your destined one!"_ exclaimed Yume as she hugged Karasuba. Karasuba was not only not used to this but also completely confused as to why she did it. Yume, realizing what she was doing, quickly released Karasuba and backed up a step. She flashed a quick apologetic smile but then quickly went back to her disturbing happiness.

 _"What's his name? What's he like? What does he do? Is he cute?"_ Yume fired off questions like someone on a massive sugar rush. Karasuba just gave her a flat stare and was about to reply when Takami, who had walked over and stuck her head into the van to see who her Ashikabi was, shouted in surprise, _"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"_

 _"That is my Ashikabi in his armor. Fancy isn't it?"_ Karasuba replied with a grin on her face.

"QUIT FUCKING SHOUTING DAMMIT!" The ashikabi in question shouted, his helmet turning the ear splitting shout into a full on assault on the ear drums.

Blackburn having woken up due to someone shouting, which his helmet slightly toned down but not enough, came out of the van having drawn the attention of all present. All those present who had any kind of military service instantly snapped to attention due to the Drill Sergeant like roar.  
Takami, Karasuba, and Yume all were rubbing their ears after that due to standing so close to him. Takami and Yume were surprised by the giant 6'7ft metal figure, what surprised them the most was the fact that they were just shouted at in english.

Takami recovered first and asked in english, "Who are you?"  
Blackburn had picked up quite a few things over the years, a spot on impression of Sgt. Dornan, was one of them. Which he made use of when he replied "Sergeant Blackburn of the Enclave. Now why were you shouting, RIGHT! NEXT! TO! MY! HEAD!"

Karasuba who had found the whole situation hilarious chuckled when she saw the guards all trembling in fear as they remembered their own drill sergeants. It was in this moment Yume piped up.

"What's the Enclave?"

Blackburn slowly, with as much menace as he could muster, glared at Yume. Takami, who was now smoking, asked in an effort to defuse the situation. "Now while I'm sure we all want to ask Mr. Blackburn some more questions, didn't he come here for medical attention?"

Blackburn nodded, he was really starting to feel all of his injuries and still being exhausted.

"Follow me then." Said Takami. They all followed her to the elevator. The guards had to take another elevator due to Blackburn's size. Besides, none of them were eager to get into an elevator with the Black Sekirei, Takami, and someone who reminded them of their worst nightmares incarnate. It was in the hospital wing when someone tried to take Blackburn's guns.

It was a hallway with white walls and white doors with people in white labcoats that stabbed Blackburn's eyes when the doors opened. They took a few steps inside when they were stopped by a short, ugly man in one of those horrid coats.

 _"Sir you can't have those here."_ Said a doctor, glaring up at Blackburn.  
"I have no idea what shit you're spewing'." Blackburn said, staring.  
"He said you can't have your weapons in here." Karasuba translated for him.  
"Oh yeah? Go ahead and try to take them. You know what? I won't even try to stop you. Hell I'll even let you keep them if you can take them." Replied Blackburn, arms wide open. The doctor, not even stopping to think about why he responded like that, reached for the Plasma Defender.  
It was a surprise to all but Karasuba when the doctor dropped to the ground twitching, his hair standing on end.

"Suck it up, Buttercup. It was only 5 million volts." Blackburn said, his voice full of scorn. He then started to slowly scan the room. Looking at everyone who was staring at him.

"Well, what are you looking at?" He said evenly, as though there wasn't someone twitching at his feet. Everyone quickly went back to what they were doing before the show occurred.

"Step into this room, we'll see how badly injured you are." Takami said while pointing at a room three doors down on the right. They walked into the room without further troubles. It was like a standard hospital room, a flat screen TV being the only difference. There was also a giant window that looked out onto the city.

" I need you to get out of the armor and sit down on the bed." Takami said, vaguely wondering if he would actually do that. She was surprised when he nodded and walked over to the far side of the bed and then turned to face the wall opposite. They heard a hissing sound and watched with amazement as the back of the armor opened up. Blackburn stepped out and then staggered trying to keep his balance. Karasuba quickly walked over and helped him onto the bed. She noted he stood at 6'2 outside of his armor.

He was wearing his Enclave fatigues, which were very similar to the officer's uniform. His were different by being black and having Sergeant's Chevrons on the right bicep. As well as his personal insignia sew onto the left bicep. The Enclave's insignia was proudly displayed over his heart. He then pulled out his hat, which had been in one of his many pockets, and put it on his head.

"Take your shirt off." Takami commanded. Blackburn compiled and unbuttoned his shirt and put it on the bed. What greeted the sight of the others in the room was nothing but scar tissue and black and blue bruised flesh. Most of the scars looked like they were old gun shot wounds, a few looked like burns, while the rest resembled knife wounds. A few smaller wounds looked like they were caused by shrapnel according to Karasuba's trained eye. She then looked at the rifle that was attached to the armor. She saw on the body were a bunch of tally marks, completely covering both it and the stock.

'He's a tough one. This is going to be fun.' Karasuba thought to herself. Takami's eyes widened at the sight but she walked over and gently prodded a rib. Blackburn let out a muffled grunt of pain but didn't say anything.

"Nothing's broken, and no fractures from what I can tell. I'd say take it easy for a week. But, you should also spend the night here for observation, just incase." She told him looking at him closely. He nodded his head. He then proceeded to take off his boots, preparing for sleep.

"If you need anything press this button here." Takami said as she pointed out a button on the side of the bed. She and Yume then left the room. Leaving only Karasuba and Blackburn in the room.

"How did you get those scars?" Karasuba asked, pointing at the knife scars.  
"My old drill sergeant. He wasn't gentle during CQC training." Blackburn replied.  
"Sergeant Dornan?" She asked remembering what he had shouted upon awakening.  
He nodded his head in confirmation.  
"Meanest son of a bitch that ever lived. But a damn good soldier. He was the guy you wanted to have your back when shit hit the fan." Blackburn replied in a tired tone with a touch of nostalgia in his voice.

"What about the ones on your face?" She asked sitting down next to him on the bed.  
"Deathclaw, meanest things on the face of the planet. Standing at 8ft they have claws that can shred power armor as though it was not even there. The claws are about 1ft long. They vary from deathclaw to deathclaw. They're damn quick too. I got these when I was heading back to my campsite and stumbled across one in the dark. It managed to get me but I killed it by jamming a plasma grenade down its throat." He replied touching the scars.

"How did you get into a portal?" She asked with genuine curiosity.  
"It's a long story." "I've got time."  
"Alright, fine. All questions after it then I'm going to sleep. Deal?"  
"Deal."

He then proceeded to tell her the events leading up to him crashing into the wall in the alley.  
Karasuba was impressed by what he told her. She knew he wasn't lying. His armor and weapons were a major sign of his story being genuine. She found it ironic that it was an alien spaceship that brought him into this world.

"Well that certainly is a story, I can also say that I believe you. Now I've only got one question for you."  
"And that is?" Asked Blackburn with a raised eyebrow.  
Karasuba look him dead in the eyes and said, "would you be my Ashikabi?"

 **Beta Monkey - Hey I have a great idea.**  
 **Writer Monkey - Oh yeah? What's that?**  
 **Beta Monkey - Lets end the chapter with a MASSIVE cliffhanger!**  
 **Writer Monkey - But that's SO dickish! Let's do it.**

 **And thus ends the 2nd chapter of The Black Devil Ashikabi. If you're upset with the cliffhanger blame the Beta Monkey. Seriously I was up for ending the chapter with his answer but, well, I liked his idea. Not only that but it allows us to dick around with some more ideas. Seriously it took us hours to write those last three paragraphs. We'd probably have 20+ words from all the shit we deleted. I also hope we did the characters right. If not be sure to tell us. In this chapter is also one of the changes we did to the Sekirei universe. That being Yume never died.**

 **Karasuba - That's good and all but really? You're going to leave me here right next to him while I'm reacting?**

 **Writer Monkey - Eyup.**

 **Beta Monkey - That's pretty much what's happening yeah.**

 **Blackburn - I understand that you have to keep the story interesting but come on. Even I think that's dickish.**

 **Writer Monkey - Shut it you. You're a fictional character that's gonna have a great life because of our dickery.**

 **Beta Monkey - Don't forget to like and review and hell a follow. We both read each review and try our best to make sure we make you guys happy.**

 **Writer Monkey - Seriously that shit is like crack to us. It really helps out in motivating us to keep the story going and to try our best. It also helps us keep the character in character. The next chapter is gonna take us anywhere from 2 weeks to a month. We'll be using that time to set up future chapters, which in turn means more updates for y'all, and setting up juicy plot points.**

 **Beta Monkey - But until that time see you guys next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 2: Meetings

Elsewhere in Shinto Teito -

It was a cool, cloudy night that saw Miya sitting at the dining room table, deep in thought. She had noticed when Karasuba started coming near the inn. Wary of attack she had started keeping her sword nearby in the event of an attack. While Karasuba was not a major threat, she could still destroy the Inn along with those that lived next to the inn.

' _It's like she is hunting for something.'_ Miya thought when she detected that Karasuba was starting to zero in on something over the next three days. She would have asked Matsu to investigate via MBI's satellites but the heavy cloud cover prevented that. She would have investigated herself, however, that would mean exposing the inn along with Matsu and the Jinki. Thus she waited it out. It was on the third day of Karasuba dropping nearby that something happened.

It was then she detected a new mind suddenly appearing near Karasuba. In her minds eye most minds are a calm and sedate blue or green with the occasional red of a violent temperament. Karasuba was a deep crimson, not that dissimilar to dried blood. This mind was a gun metal gray with what looked like dried blood mixed in, it was also currently dull with unconscious. This intrigued her due to the fact that she has never seen a mind like that. When she focused on it she learned further details. Karasuba, in her minds eye, was similar in being a caged Panther that paced back and forth. Waiting for the chance to enact violence. This new mind was like a gargoyle. Watching and waiting for the opportune moment to unleash violence with extreme prejudice and then return to the shadows in the blink of an eye.

She pulled back just in time to witness Karasuba tossing someone towards this new presence and watched as it went to the bright yellow of intense fear, flaring with pain. It then shortly disappeared. Unsurprisingly Karasuba's mind was tinged with amusement during this. She watched as Karasuba got closer to the Gray one and was surprised when it suddenly bolted awake. She noted that while it stayed that gun metal gray, it was tinged with surprise and confusion. Then, like a fortress preparing for a siege, it locked down. She could no longer receive anything from this mind, only sense where it was.

Miya watched the rest of Karasuba's and this other person's meeting until they left with great interest. She wished she could actually read the emotions to a greater degree of these two. All she could sense from Karasuba was very broad emotions. The other mind was an enigma. Never before has a mind so completely sealed itself. She would have to plan for it due to the fact it could be a threat. For that, she would need to gather intel on it. It was time for Matsu to earn her keep.

Then almost as though the devil himself decided to amuse himself at her expense, she heard the only other occupant of the inn shout.

"MIYA! KARASUBA JUST GOT WINGED!" Shouted Matsu as she ran into the dining room.

"Details now." said Miya in the tone of a commander who expected her orders to be followed to the letter.

"Your what?" Blackburn said in a confused tone.

"An Ashikabi is the "destined" mate of a sekirei." Replied Karasuba with a hint of impatience.

"And what is a Sekirei? And what do you mean by "Destined mate?" Blackburn replied, annoyance and confusion evident in his voice.

" A sekirei is an alien from a crashed ship located on Kamikura island off the coast of Japan. The ship was discovered in the year 2000. There were 108 sekirei, one fully grown, eight fetuses, and ninety-nine fertilized embryos. An Ashikabi is a human that is physically and psychologically suited for one or more sekirei that is reacting to them. Which I am right now, and it's not fun." she replied quickly.

Blackburn who had been up for 18 hours, shot at, blown up, thrown through a wormhole, gave a high-speed hug to a concrete wall, woken up with a sweet sweet super stimm, made some unpleasant discoveries and then finally woken up by someone screaming into his ear. Made a decision that he would wonder about many times.

"Sure." He just managed to finish the word before Karasuba launched herself at him. Straddling him she gave a searing kiss. Her tongue quickly went into his mouth, where they fought for dominance. Blackburn was surprised by both the blitzkrieg that was happening in his mouth and the black wings of light that were coming out of Karasuba's back.

"By the blade of my pledge, my ashibaki's enemies will be annihilated." She purred as she pulled back, a look of bliss upon her face. She then fell asleep, using his shoulder as a pillow while still straddling him. Before sleep could claim him Blackburn uttered one final word, "woah."

"What do you mean there are no details?" Miya asked with genuine confusion. All faults aside Matsu was quite skilled in retrieving information for her.

"Just that! There aren't any details on who this guy is! It's like he doesn't even exist!" Matsu exclaimed in confusion and frustration.

"Keep an eye on them. Inform me the when you find anything on who he is. That information won't stay secret for long." Miya commanded while she was thinking about the gray mind from earlier. Looks like she was going to have to come up with quite a few contingency plans in dealing with such a threat in the event of them attacking her inn.

It was dawn when Blackburn awoke to something shifting on his chest. Remembering the time Sgt. Dornan put a live bottlecap mine on his chest. He slowly, cautiously, opened his eyes. The first thing that greeted his eyes was gray hair. His brain still bogged down by sleep he slowly, carefully, cautiously moved his head so he could see who the hair was attached to. Seeing a woman sleeping on his bare chest he was confused.

' _What the hell? Ooooh right, Karasuba. Ashikabi and Sekirei thing.'_ He thought to himself was his brain dredged up what had happened the night before. He then slowly turned his head to the right to look out the window. The sight that greeted him was a blue sky with some clouds along with a few buildings. He idly wondered how high up he was for him to get that kind of view. It was then he noticed something odd, there was a something that felt like a presence in his head. He tentatively raised a hand that wasn't pinned by Karasuba and touched his forehead. Finding no presence or hole otherwise in his head he gave it the mental equivalent of poking it with a sharp stick. Karasuba suddenly twitched at right as he jabbed it.

' _Hmmm, I wonder what happens when I do this.'_ Doing his part to the scientific community, he jabbed it in the eye, hard.

" _OW! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!"_ Karasuba shouted as she bolted up right. Alas, she had bolted up right with too much force and ended up doing a vague backflip off the bed.

"Huh, so that's what that does," Blackburn mutters to himself with a raised eyebrow.

' _Wonder what happens when I do this.'_ Blackburn, once more doing his part to the scientific community, sent a happy feeling through the presence. The same exact feeling he gets whenever a bomb he made blows up raiders and outcasts. Before Karasuba, who had heard his comment, could shout at him she suddenly got a happy feeling. A warmth spreading out from her stomach. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation for a few seconds before she opened her eyes again to glare at him.

"Was there any reason why you decided to wake me up that way?" She asked with a sweet tone that all men fear. It was the tone that carried the threat of castration and horrible cooking combined with the forced presence of the in-laws. Blackburn mentally took cover as the presence was suddenly invaded with what he could tell was hostility, and confusion.

"There's a presence in my head. I, in the spirit of science, decided to poke it. I have drawn the conclusion that it links us. That, or I am now psychic." He uttered in a completely dry and serious tone while completely stone faced. He then sensed the confusion completely overcome the hostility.

"...Right. That's the mental link all Sekirei share with their Ashikabi," she replied slowly. While she was explaining this she looked at his presence in her mind. She could feel the curiosity he had. She noted that he was oddly content with his current situation too.

"Mind explaining in detail what that means? So far it looks like we can sense each others emotional state and where the other is." He asked, eyebrow still raised. Karasuba nodded to this

"Exactly that." She said has she got up and handed him his jacket. Blackburn nodded. After Blackburn was done buttoning his jacket he asked Karasuba some more questions.

"Could you tell me more about Sekirei? I want to know what threats we may possibly meet in the future. Because I highly doubt that you carry around that sword for kicks. Or impale people on street lights or toss drunks at unknowns to see what happens." He asked while sitting on the bed.

She nodded and then proceeded to tell him all about the sekirei.

"So let me get this straight the disciplinary squad, who you are apart of, was originally formed to protect the sekirei from outside influence and is now going to enforce the rules of a battle royale."

He asked with a straight face. She nodded in response to his question.

"Who made up the first generation squad and who else is in the current generation?" He asked.

"The first was lead by Sekirei 01 Miya. The others were numbers 02, 03, 04, and 05. The current squad just has Yume and I." She replied.

"Tell me about Yume. I have a feeling we will end up fighting her in the future. She doesn't seem like someone who likes our methods of exterminating a threat. Hell, she seems like someone who'll try to spare someone who needs to be put down like a rabid animal."

"Pretty much like what you said. She's naive and sickeningly cheerful, she also goes on and on about ' Destined ones' and 'Love conquers all, hell she even calls herself a 'defender of love.' She's a close combat sekirei. She's no pushover either, I have yet to win one of our spars. Personally, I think she might leave the squad after she finds out about you. The reason being she wasn't reacting to you, and I highly doubt she wants to wing herself on somebody she is not even reacting to."

"What causes a Sekirei to react to someone?"

" As far as I am aware, for a Sekirei to react to someone they need to be compatible on a fundamental level. Though just being compatible does not mean we'll react to someone. They have to have the correct genetics to be an Ashikabi. Interestingly enough the more Sekirei an Ashikabi has the stronger his presence is to us. They will be able to forge stronger bonds to their Sekirei, thereby increasing their combat effectiveness. The reason why the more Sekirei an Ashikabi has the more Sekirei they'll attract is due to them taking certain traits of the Sekirei, thereby increasing the odds of attracting another Sekirei. Since the chances of you becoming the Disciplinary Squad's Ashikabi is almost a guarantee I'll get ahold of a laptop with all the intel on the other Sekirei for you. And before you ask a laptop is a portable computer. You can use it at our apartment in the tower." She finished the long winded explanation. She doesn't usually talk this much but she knew he needed this information.

It was after she finished explaining everything that her cell went off. Glancing at the caller ID she answered.

" _What is it Takami?"_ Karasuba asked curtly.

" _Minaka wants to talk to you. It's about our new guest. Whom I am assuming is your new Ashikabi."_ Said Takami.

' _If he wants to know about my Ashikabi then he can ask the man himself."_ She replied in a irritated tone.

" _Well bring him up to Minaka's office then."_ replied Takami with an equally irritated tone.

" _You know what? Fine I will, and I'm not gonna stop him if he decides to hurt that lunatic."_ She replied before she ended the call. She stood there, irritated at Minaka for wanting her to reveal information about her Ashikabi behind his back. She may have only met the man yesterday but he is still **her** Ashikabi. Besides, he seemed interesting enough. It was then she noticed that Blackburn was trying to calm her down via their link. She turned around to see him standing in his uniform with his hat on and and that eyebrow still raised.

' _I wonder if it can get stuck like that.'_ She wondered idly.

"Takami, the doctor who checked you yesterday, wants to talk to you along with her boss. The man that owns the building we're standing in." She answered to his questioning look. He nodded sharply, stuffed his hat back into a pocket, and went towards his armor. She watched in fascination as he went about getting into his armor. She didn't flinch when the armor's servos suddenly snarled into life along with the hum of the power source increasing in volume as it closed around him.

She noted that the armor was just as intimidating in the light as it was in the dark. She gestured with her head that he was to follow her. As they stepped out into the hallway they noticed that not only were there more people but that they all avoided eye contact. This didn't bother them, being used to people fearing them individually. Karasuba was surprised when the guard on the floor was directing a look of absolute fear not at her, but at Blackburn. She looked at Blackburn and grinned and jerked her head towards the guard. Blackburn, understanding her question decided to ask the man.

"See something interesting?" Blackburn's voice came out as an low angry snarl. The guard jumped at the sound and saluted and responded quickly.

"No sir! I do not see anything interesting sir!" the guard responded quickly. Blackburn was slightly impressed that the man's voice didn't waver with the obvious fear. He decided to be a little mean.

"What am I not _interesting_?" said Blackburn with a small promise of violence in his voice.

"NO SIR! YOU ARE QUITE INTERESTING SIR!" The guard responded with great gusto in an effort to make up for the mistake he made.

"Now why is that? What, is Karasuba not interesting? You hear that Karasuba, you're not interesting." He said with relish in his voice.

"SIR I NEVER SAID THAT! KARASUBA IS VERY INTERESTING!" The guard said, sweating bullets with wide eyes.

"WHAT?! ARE YOU EYEBALLIN' HER LIKE A PIECE OF MEAT! YOU WANT TO DIE LITTLE MAN?!" Shouted Blackburn in full Dornan mode while towering over the guard.

"SIR NO SIR! I WAS ONLY KEEPING AN EYE ON HER SO I COULD TRY TO STAY OUT OF HER WAY!" Shouted the absolutely terrified guard.

"GOOD! CARRY ON!" Shouted Blackburn stepping past him into the waiting elevator that Karasuba had called during the show. After the doors had closed the guard looked immensely confused, bewildered, and still scared. He then noticed all the people that were staring at him in the hallway.

"What are you lot looking at!? Get back to work, nothing to show here!" He snapped at all the doctors who snapped back into reality. Meanwhile inside the elevator.

Karasuba was currently on the ground holding her sides as she let loose all the laughter she was suppressing during the show.

"That was rich," she managed to choke out between the bouts of laughter.

"Thought he was going to faint for a few seconds there." Said Blackburn, his voice laced with amusement. Karasuba managed to stop laughing and recover when they reached the floor for Minika's office. They stepped inside and were greeted with an elaborate hallway with marble floors and pillars made of onyx. 30ft away, at the end of the hallway, were a pair of very ornate mahogany doors. In front and to the left of the doors was a small black desk and sitting behind the desk was a young man with brown hair wearing an elaborate suit with a white shirt underneath along with black tie.

Karasuba started walking forward with Blackburn a step behind and to her right. His head slowly panning again.

' _This is one hell of a choke point. Anyone attacking this would be gunned down the moment the elevator opened. Hell you could set up some heavy weapons in here without much of a problem.'_ He thought to himself as he appraised the killzone that was the hallway. He cycled through his helmet's vision settings as they walked. He found nothing on thermal, a few cameras on ECM, and he wasn't going to blind himself by trying NV. Satisfied that there were no lurking threats he look at the only visible person besides Karasuba and himself. He looked for any signs of military training. His entire body was relaxed along with his hands being completely visible, away from the edge of the desk.

' _Civilian, no martial training. Hands lack callouses, no signs of hard life or fighting for one. Eyes dead, possibly due to immense mental trauma . Complete and utter stone faced. Schooled in hiding emotions. Not a direct threat but a snake in the grass.'_ He mentally concluded; the mental ping he got from Karasuba told him that she agreed with his assessment. Blackburn really didn't like those eyes. He had seen them on too many raiders to get anywhere near trusting.

"Hello, my name is Natsuo. The Professor is willing to see you now." The Secretary said as he pushed a button on his desk to let them into Minika's office. He didn't seem the slightest bit surprised at seeing Blackburn in his armor, nor at him being allowed into the professor's presence fully armed. Without even a backwards glance Karasuba entered the office with Blackburn a step behind. When they fully entered the room the doors gently closed themselves. The office they stepped into did not look like what you would expect of a madman. As a matter of fact it was actually tastefully well done. But they didn't focus on the furnishings of the room but were focused on the man in a ridiculous white cape that was standing behind his large oak desk with an obviously irritated Takami standing to the right of the desk.

Surprisingly Yume was also there. Blackburn sensed Karasuba slightly tense at seeing her. He noted that Yume was keeping a completely neutral face, revealing nothing. He had a bad feeling about this. The same exact feeling when he didn't see Sgt. Dornan for the better part of a day. Usually what followed that absence was flashbangs hidden in toilet paper rolls. While he understood that Sgt. Dornan did these things to increase their chances of survival in the wastes he always wondered if Sgt. Dornan did it just because he got bored and entertained himself with new ideas to torment the recruits with. He then directed his attention to Minaka.

"Ah the man of the hour has arrived! I must say you are quite the surprise, Sgt. Blackburn. With your sudden appearance with tech we are nowhere close to even being able to understand! And then, to top it all off, become the ashikabi to the Black Sekirei herself! Aren't you quite the wild card?" said Minaka with a wide grin reminiscent of a child that just discovered the secret stash of sugar loaded candy their parents tried to hide from them. While that smile was full of immature glee his eyes showed just how cunningly intelligent the man in front of him was.

Blackburn considered his response quickly and carefully. He needed information about this world and its inhabitants. This world obviously played by a different set of rules then what he was used to.

"If you say so. I highly doubt that you called us up just for flattery so what is it that you want?" Blackburn said as he crossed his arms.

"Ah, straight to the point it is then. I want to offer you a job as the Head of Security for my company. I will admit that the main reason why I want to hire you as such is due to Karasuba here being your Sekirei but also I want you to be the Ashikabi of the disciplinary squad. Whose purpose is to police the other Sekirei in the Sekirei plan. Now before you ask the Sekirei plan is a battle royale. Last Ashikabi standing with their Sekirei get one wish, one for each of them. Now the benefits, if you choose to accept, a substantial pay along with unrestricted access to all of our information. We'll also keep the other countries off your back." He said, expression unchanged.

Blackburn took this all in. He could already see that the benefits for this job were actually quite nice. But he narrowed his eyes as he tried to think of what Minaka would get out of this arrangement. So far it was looking like Minaka wanted to keep him close so he could gain information regarding his tech. He also remembered what Karasuba had told him regarding the Sekirei and how the single numbers were stronger than all the others. The first five or "The first generation disciplinary squad" especially. Yet another reason to keep him close. It wasn't like he had much choice in the matter to begin with. He couldn't flee the country with nothing but his armor and weapons, even if MBI would let him. So far those were valid reasons to keep him close yet the only thing that he couldn't understand was this "Sekirei plan." Why have them fight each other? What was there to gain from this? Who or what granted this wish? Why did they grant this wish? Was there even a wish to begin with? Too many unknowns for him to be comfortable. Time to see if he could get some answers.

"Before I even consider actually taking this job I want some answers to some questions." Blackburn said after a few seconds of silence that had followed after Minaka's proposition.

"Why of course. But let me guess. You want to know what I get out of this plan don't you? Well that is a surprise. Now what are your questions? He said with that same infuriating grin plastered on his face. Blackburn took a few seconds to think of his questions and which ones he wanted Minaka to answer.

"Do I get full access to all the information pertaining to the Sekirei plan? And will I have full reign to do what I need to do?" Said Blackburn. If the answer to either question was not a yes then he would walk and try to find a way to get that information another way.

"Of course you'll have all the relevant information for the Sekirei plan and full reign to do what needs to be done." Minaka said quickly

"... Alright I'm in. When do I start?" Blackburn said while mentally adding _'for now.'_

"You'll start a few days from now. Karasuba will give you all the information you need. Now on to one of the other reasons why we brought you here. What kind of world did you come from?" said Minaka with a smile.

Blackburn looked at Karasuba, mentally asking her _'should I tell them?'_ She nodded at this unspoken question. Blackburn then spent the next hour telling them the history of his world and the events that lead up to his arrival at MBI tower, starting with The Great War, then moving onto Raven Rock's destruction, and finally closing with how he ended up in their world.. When he finished telling them they were all staring at him looks of surprise. Karasuba was looking at him with a look of pride and a slight amount of respect. Yume had a look tinged with disgust. Takami was looking with scientific curiosity.

"This 'Super Stim' what is it made of?" She asked.

"To be completely honest, I don't know. All I know is that it pumps you full of adrenaline and increases your body's ability to recover from damage." He said as he started reaching for the med-pack on his armor.

" This is a standard stimpack. I'm going to need more of these since I am going to be in charge of the disciplinary squad. I also want to know if these will work on Sekirei." He said as he handed a standard stimpack to Takami.

"I'll get right on it." She said as she looked at the stimpack in fascination.

"Now on to the final reason why we are here." Minaka said as he directed his gaze onto Yume.

"I want to resign from the Disciplinary squad." Said Yume without beating around the bush.

"It's your call, Sergeant. You can A. let her go without any problems and become a potential threat later on. B. Keep her on the squad without you being her Ashikabi. Or C. Forcefully wing her and keep her on the Squad." Minaka said as he looked back at Blackburn.

Blackburn didn't even have to think about his answer.

"You can go. If you want to leave then I'm not going to stop you. Good Luck on finding your Ashikabi. Let me give you this warning though, cause any problems and you will **NOT** like what happens." Said Blackburn as he looked at Yume.

"Well that solves that. Number 8 you will leave this building today. We'll give you your card and send your belongings to your new place of residence whenever you send it to us." said Minaka as he looked back at Yume. She nodded and began to walk to the door alongside Takami, who had stayed to see how this would end. As Takami passed Blackburn she nodded at him, who nodded back.

"Now shall I presume that you will be staying in Number 4's apartment here in the tower, Sergeant?" asked Minaka with a raised eyebrow behind his glasses.

"Yes I shall." replied Blackburn.

"Well that makes matters easier. I'll have someone send down everything you will be needing to live in our society. Day to day clothes, things needed for hygiene, and a credit card so you may buy what you need outside of the tower. I won't bother sending you to get a suit due to you not seeming like someone who would wear them. Besides that armor of yours will be a better uniform than any suit could possibly be." He said as he went back to his computer. Taking it for the dismissal it was Karasuba and Blackburn turned around and began to head to the elevator.

"I need to go take care of something. I'll show you our apartment and give you the laptop with all the intel I told you about earlier I'll probably be gone for a few hours." Said Karasuba after they got into the elevator.

"Alright, I'm just gonna go ahead and ask but what will you be doing?" He replied, slightly turning his head as he did so.

"I think I know where Yume will be going, but I want to know for sure. She won't take anything from here and the place she is going to won't take the MBI black card." She replied, her head slightly turned in his direction as she did so.

"Seems like MBI doesn't have any eyes on it then. That or MBI can't move freely in that area. I don't need to tell you that fighting near there would not be a wise idea if that is true, correct?"

"Correct, and don't worry. While I would enjoy fighting them, I don't like fights to the death where I can't win. The place she's going to is owned and run by the only person MBI can't touch, who I am on bad terms with." She replied to him.

"Oh yeah? Who is it? Wait, let me guess, it's a sekirei isn't it?" He said with mock consideration.

"Right on the money. I'll let you guess who it is when I give you the laptop." She replied with a grin. The doors dinged open on the floor of their apartment. 30 seconds of walking later and they stood inside the apartment.

"Time for the guided tour." Karasuba said with a lazy grin. After showing Blackburn the entire apartment, which was rather large for a single person, they ended up standing at the kitchen bar.

"I'm gonna head out and handle a few things. Here's that laptop I was telling you about, make yourself at home. I'll be back in a few hours." She said opening the laptop and placing it on the island and pulled up the files on the also demonstrated how to use the laptop. Blackburn, who left his armor in the bedroom, nodded. Sitting down in the chair in front of the laptop placed Lil' Devil, with the safety off and a round in the chamber, facing the door within easy reach.

' _Well, let's see what we have here,'_ Blackburn thought to himself as he pulled up the first Sekirei.

Earlier in the elevator -

Yume was worried. Ever since Karasuba had returned with that goliath known as Blackburn her instincts had been on edge. When they were walking towards the elevator she had noticed the kill markings on the strange weapon strapped to his back and felt her blood run cold. The weapon was absolutely covered in them. She had spent the whole ride counting the marks, by the time the doors had opened she was at 560 before she had to stop.

' _He isn't human, he's a monster wearing human skin.'_ She thought to herself in horror. She was used to dealing with people like Karasuba. They were easy to deal with, beat them in single combat and they'll keep coming back for more. It's what they live for, what they die for. They only live for the adrenaline rush of a good fight, of combat. Anything else like compassion, mercy, love, peace is an anathema to them. They would sooner stop breathing then stop seeking the thrill of battle. When the doctor had reached for his weapon only to be electrocuted she had been slightly surprised. If it was Karasuba she would have just killed him and kept going, which she has done until they learned to stop trying.

She wondered why he didn't do the same. It only took her a few minutes before her eyes widened in realization as to why he did . The reason why he didn't kill the man was so he could spread the story of what had happened to him. People would learn quicker and every time they saw him they would think of that moment, reinforcing the message. It had also demonstrated that he wouldn't hesitate to hurt someone to prove a point.

When they had entered the room for him to get some medical attention she made sure to position herself next to Takami, incase he decided to attack her for some reason. Though she doubted he would attack without a good reason, but she wasn't going to take any chances. When he took off his armor she was surprised once again at the sight that greeted her eyes. She had expected someone who looked like a skeleton with flesh on it with a slasher like smile. Not a young man who was bald and had such savage looking scars across his face. But the eyes demanded her attention. They were hard, calculating eyes with as much warmth as gun metal during winter in the arctic circle. She noted how when he looked at her she felt as though she were in the sights of a rifle. She repressed the sigh of relief that wanted to make itself known when he looked back at Takami. When she had told him to take off his jacket to see to any possible injuries underneath it she had to admit she was slightly impressed at the sheer amount of scars on him. Some were small like gunshot and knife wounds, while others were long claw marks. When Takami had finished with the check up they took their leave. When they were back in the elevator Yume turned to Takami.

"What do you think?" She said in a low tone.

"... I think that if anybody ever fit Karasuba, it's him. Do I think he'll curb Karasuba's violent tendencies? No, I get the feeling he'll direct them. I am sure of this though; anyone who gets in their way is not going to live long enough to regret it." Replied Takami with a pensive look on her face.

Silence reigned after her reply. Both lost in their own thoughts, Takami about her children and Yume about Blackburn, Karasuba, and her own beliefs. When the doors dinged open again on the 25th floor with Yume's apartment on it. Yume, still lost in her own thoughts, walked out slowly. Before the doors could close again Yume turned around.

"I'll talk to you later." She said to Takami, only getting a nod in reply. She pulled out her keys as she neared her door. Once inside she locked the door behind her and skipped her usual before bed shower and stripped before getting into bed. Her last thoughts before sleep claimed her were about how she was happy about Karasuba finding an Ashikabi that was at least like her and not one she bonded with out of spite.

When she had woken up the next day she went straight to Minaka's office only to be surprised at Takami already being there. They stopped their argument the moment Yume entered the room. In the silence following such an action she made her announcement about what she had been thinking about for the past few months ever since she was made aware of the sekirei plan.

"I wish to resign from the Disciplinary squad." She said once she had both of their attention. Silence reigned for a short period of time following this announcement. They both glanced at each other and then back at her. It was then that Minaka spoke.

"Well, it's a shame that one of our best is leaving. but I must ask is it due to the fact that the only other member of the current squad having an Ashikabi while you don't? You, the self professed, 'defender of love?' Are you upset that number 04 or as she is know 'Bloody Sekirei' found her Ashikabi before you?" Questioned Minaka with a shrewd look.

It took every bit of Yume's restraint not to lash out at Minaka. No way she was upset about her friend finding her destined one. She wanted to leave due to her wanting to find her own Ashikabi and she knew the chances of finding her own while working for MBI were next to zero. She also wanted to check up on Miya and Matsu ever since she helped Matsu with stealing the Jinki and escaping. She knew that while MBI would never attack Izumo Inn, Miya left the inn on the anniversary of her husband's death like clockwork. Thereby leaving the Inn, and Matsu, completely exposed to attack. Something she was sure that Blackburn would exploit if he were to become the Disciplinary squad's Ashikabi.

"Karasuba finding her Ashikabi before me does not effect my decision in the slightest. I want to find my Ashikabi and I feel that the chances of me finding him while working for MBI is next to zero."

"Noted, but lets see what the Sergeant has to say about that. Takami would you call them up. First though lets see if we can get Karasuba up here first so we can talk about the Sergeant." replied Minaka as he looked back at his computer. They waited in silence as Takami made the call. They were surprised at how Karasuba reacted. Yume looked at Takami and asked the question, "She seems to have taken to him quickly."

"So I'm not the only one who thought that. Any idea about why that would be?"

"No idea, but we should keep an eye on them."

"Agreed." said Takami as she nodded.

They waited in silence for the Black Sekirei and her new Ashikabi. When he arrived she was once again struck with the feeling that something wasn't entirely right with him. If she was having any doubts about leaving they were banished when they stood in front of her. She also decided that, if Miya would let her, she would be staying at Izumo Inn. To help protect Matsu and the Jinki from possible attack. She knew that once Blackburn became aware of the Inn, who resided in it, and ultimately that the Jinki was hidden there he would make plans to take it back. While she was confident that there was no way that they would succeed she didn't want to take chances.

When Blackburn told them of the world he came from and the "Outcasts" he butchered she was disgusted. She wanted to ask why not leave them be? Why was he even attacking them? But she didn't. If she wanted to leave MBI she needed him to, at least, feel neutral to her. She would be lying if she said that his tech didn't catch her eye. She briefly wondered if Stimpacks could be altered to work for a Sekirei. As far as she could tell all that would needed to be done is to just up the strength on it.

"Now on to the final reason why we are here." Minaka said as he directed his gaze onto Yume. The moment of truth.

"I want to resign from the Disciplinary squad." Said Yume without beating around the bush.

She guessed that Blackburn was the type that would appreciate someone being straight with them.

"It's your call, Sergeant. You can A. let her go without any problems and become a potential threat later on. B. Keep her on the squad without you being her Ashikabi. Or C. Forcefully wing her and keep her on the Squad." Minaka said as he looked back at Blackburn.

"You can go. If you want to leave then I'm not going to stop you. Good Luck on finding your Ashikabi. Let me give you this warning though, cause any problems and you will **NOT** like what happens." Said Blackburn as he looked at Yume.

' _You won't like what happens either. Underneath all that armor, you're still human. With all the weaknesses that entails."_ She thought to herself. She had nothing against them, but it did pay to know their weak points. The invasions of Kamikura Island proved that point.

"Well that solves that. Number 8 you will leave this building today. We'll give you your card and send your belongings to your new place of residence whenever you send it to us." said Minaka as he looked back at Yume. She nodded and began to walk to the door alongside Takami, who had stayed to see how this would end. As Takami passed Blackburn she nodded at him, who nodded back.

Once inside the elevator Takami turned to her and said, "you're going to stay with Miya aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm heading straight there. I don't have anything I'm really attached to here and we both know that Miya won't take MBI's money." She replied without hesitation. She wasn't worried about what MBI may hear from this conversation.

Takami nodded her head and responded with, "if you need anything don't hesitate to call."

Yume smiled as she nodded her head in response. No words were passed when the doors opened to allow Takami off. Without another word passed between the two Takami stepped off the elevator. Yume waited patiently as the elevator began its descent again. As the elevator reached the ground floor Yume stepped out only to be met with an almost deserted lobby, save for the receptionist working the front desk. She walked across the lobby and out the doors. Without a glance backwards, she began her trek northward.

 **And thus ends the third chapter of our story. Now I would like to make it known that I sincerely apologize with how long it took for me to actually post this chapter. Damn you Dark Souls. I'm also going to be completely honest it was mostly procrastination combined with dark souls combined with a small amount of writer's block. I've also finally found a good rhythm that will probably have me posting a new chapter once or twice a month. Another thing I should have mentioned is I won't post a chapter unless I am happy with it. I would rather post late with good quality than rush it and make is so shitty that it would knock a buzzard off a shit wagon.**

 _PRAISE THE SUN_


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